S08.E02: A Stereotypical Day

[Artsda]

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The Dunphys deal with Alex's bout of mononucleosis, and Mitch and Cam deal with Lily  disrespecting her new friend Tom (who is transgender), Jay  meets his new neighbors. 

Phil locked in the closet for 18hrs was hilarious. I enjoyed the entire Dunphy household with all their ulterior motives. 

I guess they're going to show Alex in episode with the taking the semester off for mono excuse. 

That murial is finally gone, so glad. It wasn't funny, it was horrible.

[VCRTracking]

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That murial is finally gone, so glad. It wasn't funny, it was horrible.

Yeah, it was about time.  Also can't believe Lily's already nine.

I hope Manny dating the Communist continues into the next episodes.

[vanillamawi]

 A great episode for me. It has the good-ol modern family storylines. I actually liked all three plots this week. Thumbs up Modern fam.

[Everleigh]

Phil was the highlight of the episode for me. Him getting locked in the closet and planning out his meals of tic tacs and then using Alex as a therapy dog was pretty hilarious. 

Nice to see Claire is keeping up her tradition of being a horrible mother to Alex. Mono is actually pretty serious and her mother should really be letting her rest instead of waking her up so she'll be irritable and yell at everyone for her. 

And I guess the writers just decided to completely forgo coming up with half-assed reasons for Alex to be home every week and decided on one big reason to keep her around for a good chunk of episodes. 

Small thing I noticed but in the scene were Claire comes home and the whole family is in the messy kitchen/living room, Alex asks Haley why she's not cat sitting for her boss like she usually does on Tuesday nights and then a few seconds later Haley tries to rush Alex back off to school by saying it's Friday night and there might be a party she could listen to. 

For the most part I could do without Joe being on screen so much but I did laugh when Gloria caught him trying to sneak outside in his underwear and told him he couldn't live outside and Joe just yelled an angry "fine!" back while dragging the huge suitcase back up the stairs. 

At least Mitch and Cam kept the bickering to a minimum this episode. Also enjoyed them being called out by Jay of all people for being so self-congratulatory about their open-mindedness. I suspected Lily's "weirdo" comment was going to be about something unrelated to her friend's gender but I'm glad they went with the mural thing because it was creepy when she was a baby and it's even creepier now so thank God they finally got rid of it. 

[K-9]

The show changed up most of the kids' stories:

Haley is single and over Andy.  She was fired from her job at the fashion firm (to get the position she had to critique/berate the assistant's style choice to impress the manager).  Haley ought to have made some connections during her time there, so hope she networks and lands another opportunity.

This is going to be a major change for Alex without being enrolled in school for a while.  She's been constantly challenging herself in school.  With all the down time it will be interesting to see what she gets involved in this semester.  

Manny's prom date was so thrilled when he asked.  They both liked each other.  Guess it didn't work out, and now he's chasing someone else. 

Edited September 29, 2016 by K-9

[anna0852]

I loved how Joe was dressed like Mowgali when he was trying to drag the suitcase down the stairs to live outside. 

[Cementhead]

As someone who drives her husband crazy by constantly screwing up the remotes by somehow always hitting some wrong random button, etc, the remote bit between Gloria & Jay was especially funny to me; even though Gloria's issue was more of a Remote Rage thing.  When Jay told her he was going to buy her one of those rubber remotes they have in romper rooms & insane asylums and she cried 'thank you!' with relief --- hee!

[AriAu]

Maybe it is just me, but I can't understand 90% of what Joe says, so when he and Gloria talk/screech, I wear out the rewind button and get yelled at for turning up the volume!

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Haley is single and over Andy.  She was fired from her job at the fashion firm (to get the position she had to critique/berate the assistant's style choice to impress the manager).  Haley ought to have made some connections during her time there, so hope she networks and lands another opportunity.

I think they blew a chance for some humor by having her in that workplace and letting her be both qualified and bitchy/manipulative!

Overall, I enjoyed the episode but it was sorta a filler episode that explains why Alex will be home....and it does make sense that being sick for a few weeks at a place like Cal Tech will require you to take the semester off.

[AbsoluteShower]

"Six months ago we had to take you to the dermatologist because you were taking too many bubble baths!"

Phil having his own "Wilson" in the closet, grabbing the small bucket as he left, and mentioning that someone had written their last will and testament on the wall.

Jay's hobo story - "he taught me to open a can with a bird's beak!"

[Traveller519]

I'm glad I watched this episode before "You're the Worst" last night. It would have been incredibly jarring to go from an actual PTSD story that showed the effects of it so strongly to Phil's, but in a vacuum, Phil's story was still pretty funny.

Joe's physical comedy was great this episode, the suitcase on the stairs was so well done, and of course he's the one peeing in the corner.

I was trying to think back to my time at College, taking a semester off would be tough because of the number of 2nd semester courses which require the pre-requisite the first semester, and that course may not be offered a second semester. I already feel bad for Alex, for whom School has been such an important thing to now be without it, and needing to patch-work her life back together.

I like that Luke has a part-time job. Hopefully that lets him branch out into other areas than just being an awkward teenager.

[MaryMitch]

I had mono in college - during finals week. I missed ALL my finals. I looked exactly like Alex - kinda grey - but fatigue and body aches were my only symptom - oh, and a neck that looked like I was swallowing hard boiled eggs.  So I think Alex's symptoms were realistic.

I'm glad they painted that mural - that was really ugly and totally wrong for the room of a 9 year old (! Lily is 9!)

[truffleshuffle65]

So I stopped watching Modern Family for a while after I changed jobs. My new co-workers just weren't into it so I didn't have many people to discuss it with, and I honestly felt the plot line in session 5 was getting repetitive. I started watching session 8 again because my wife is a die hard fan, and boy did this episode change my outlook on Modern Family! I couldn't stop laughing when Jay was asking about the family that moved across the street. Kinda of an off the wall question, does anyone know if those cameras that Jay was setting up were real? They look super small. Eitherway, sweet episode, I'm looking forward to the rest of the season!

[Shermie]

Wow, I thought this episode was awful, what a bunch of hateful people. Nothing funny about their level of selfishness and stupidity. 

A pantry door breaks? Sure, create a ptsd riff just because a guy is too dumb or weak to break a door open. 

A family that takes advantage of their seriously ill daughter? Lovely. She's the smartest and most accomplished one there with the brightest future, but the parents seem prouder of the slutty lazy one and their dimwit brother.

Joe actually looks like Mowgli, so good little side plot there.

Gloria screeches to Jay about some inane lazy rich person problem; lather rinse repeat.

Edited September 30, 2016 by Shermie

[DrSpaceman73]

Glad to see the mural is gone.  You'd think Cam.....well, no, at least Mitch would be self aware enough to realize it is pretty creepy for their daughter's bedroom.  Not so bad when younger and she is oblivious or ignorant of the implications or the inappropriate nature, but by now, yes, just bad.  And has nothing to do with them being gay. 

Phil is always the highlight of the show. 

[CleoCaesar]

I was a little sad to see the creepy mural gone. It was a gift from Gloria to Mitch and Cam and had an amusing kitschy quality to it. They could have hung a large painting/poster over the semi-nude figures.

Laughed out loud during Jay's sad friend's "Okay that made me mad, but it felt so good to be held."

Overall the episode was a little too cartoonish but I guess it worked.

[readster]

I really enjoyed the episode, but something I have noticed, I think the writers are trying to hit the rest on Haley. The entire Andy plot no one liked and they then wrote themselves in a corner. So, they ditched him. They couldn't really do anything with the insane fashion boss that makes Haley do strange to a point, illegal things. So, they throw that out too. They want to keep Alex around because she is taken advantage of the family and are running out of excuses to have her home all the time. I just wish they pick a direction with the characters that work, keep it there and stop trying to hit the big reset button every time they can't figure out what to do. 

[kat165]

Yeah, they really don't seem to know what to do with the kids these past few years. Usually none of their storylines are funny or entertaining. With some of them now that they're older & not so cute anymore we can see how some of them can't really act.
 

[Blakeston]

5 hours ago, CleoCaesar said:

I was a little sad to see the creepy mural gone. It was a gift from Gloria to Mitch and Cam and had an amusing kitschy quality to it.

It came from Gloria? I thought one of their gay friends painted it for them.

4 hours ago, readster said:

The entire Andy plot no one liked and they then wrote themselves in a corner. So, they ditched him.

I assumed Andy was temporarily written out because Adam Devine has too much going on to be available for shooting. I'm not an Andy fan, so I'd be happy if it turned out the writers decided the character wasn't working - but I suspect we haven't seen the last of him.

Edited September 30, 2016 by Blakeston

[Gulftastic]

Jay introducing Gloria to Mr 'Bideway' was good, and Phil's prat fall as he was going to try and shoulder charge the closet door once again showed how good he is at physical comedy.,

[DrSpaceman73]

4 hours ago, Blakeston said:

It came from Gloria? I thought one of their gay friends painted it for them.

I assumed Andy was temporarily written out because Adam Devine has too much going on to be available for shooting. I'm not an Andy fan, so I'd be happy if it turned out the writers decided the character wasn't working - but I suspect we haven't seen the last of him.

I assumed this was the case as well.  I don't really get his appeal, but for whatever reason, the actor seems to have expanded beyond the show. 

It seems all along though they have been writing him in and out of the show, likely as it was convenient for his schedule.  Last season it seems when they were together we'd go weeks without him appearing or being mentioned, then he'd pop up and we'd have a more story over him, then he disappears again.  Which doesn't help the on screen relationship being sold easily, especially when so many fans don't seem to care about them being together in the first place

They do sort of do that with Dylan as well, he pops up here and there, but it goes with the story, makes sense.  With Andy, he is supposed to be working for the Dunphy's/Pritchett's but then he doesn't appear hardly at all for weeks on end

[Indy]

4 hours ago, Gulftastic said:

Jay introducing Gloria to Mr 'Bideway' was good

That part made me laugh so hard because my dad has done that before.  He once introduced my step-mom to a man whom he thought was named 'Mitchell Weiss.' Turns out his name was David...what the man had said, after my dad introduced himself was, "aaahh yes, I met your wife" which somehow got garbled into "aaaah, yes, I'm Mitchell Weiss" 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I had mono in high school and I ended up being home for over two months. Most of that time, I slept about twenty hours a day. I just couldn't stay awake. I only went back to school so I could take finals and avoid repeating the school year. So yeah, Alex's family needs to let her rest. 

Claire's paranoia about Alex's mono germs was understandable but useless. By the time I was diagnosed, I'd already had mono for about a month (which explained why I kept falling asleep in class). No one else got mono. Not my boyfriend, not my sisters, not any of the friends who I had shared food/drinks with and probably coughed or sneezed on before I knew I had mono, no one in any of my classes or extracurricular activities. One of my friends actively tried to get mono from me and failed. If the other Dunphys haven't caught mono from Alex by now, it's really unlikely that they'll get it if Alex takes off her mask and coughs on all of them. 

[mojito]

I chuckled at Haley's comment about Alex getting mono from sharing a kissing pillow with other nerds.

In closed captioning, the neighbor's last name was spelled something like "Nbidawe" or something like that, which made the gag even more humorous. 

Alex's mono gives the show the opportunity to keep her at home for a year as she might attend community college part-time for a while and pick up at Cal Tech next Fall. I really like how they have written her. She's the Rodney Dangerfield of the family, yet shows the most promise, and merely reacts to the "torture" with frustration. Nice to have the competent straight man as the brunt of jokes. 

Joe's Munchkin's voice is pretty funny, but it is a little difficult to understand at times. 

[Texasmom1970]

Was pretty bored with this episode except Phil being trapped in the closet. Ty is hilarious!

[Lizzing]

On 9/30/2016 at 3:48 AM, Blakeston said:

On 9/29/2016 at 10:27 PM, CleoCaesar said:

I was a little sad to see the creepy mural gone. It was a gift from Gloria to Mitch and Cam and had an amusing kitschy quality to it.

It came from Gloria? I thought one of their gay friends painted it for them.

Yes, Cam & Mitch's painting was done by one of their friends.  Cam got the friend to paint a similar mural FOR Gloria and Jay in "Mystery Date" in Joe's nursery.

[stuckin60s]

Looks like I am one of the few that liked Andy in this show.  I hated Dylan and the story lines.  At least with Andy the episode could go many ways, as Manny for Jay and Gloria, as right hand man for Phil and boyfriend for Haley.  It made her more interesting too.  She seemed to actually have to think.

[indeed]

They seem to be regressing Haley.  She was maturing, but now she's back into partying, lost her job, and I bet she'll be dating around again now that she's supposedly over Andy.  Watch out, Dylan!

I liked Andy, especially with Phil.  (But then, everybody is better with Phil.  ;) )

[ChipBach]

19 hours ago, stuckin60s said:

Looks like I am one of the few that liked Andy in this show.  I hated Dylan and the story lines.  At least with Andy the episode could go many ways, as Manny for Jay and Gloria, as right hand man for Phil and boyfriend for Haley.  It made her more interesting too.  She seemed to actually have to think.

I liked the idea of Andy, I just didn't think the actor had any chemistry with Haley.  I also like the idea of a Phil Jr. and thought they could have sustained a longer story line with that type of character.  Please don't bring Dylan back, there are enough dumb people on the show.